Factors in Buying PPE

One of the most important factor in making a business or a manufacturing company successful is protecting the workers. There are many important aspects in protecting workers and its benefits to the company. It is known globally that budgets are tight at the moment when PPEs are discussed because these safety equipment and gas detectors are expensive that are sold by high quality PPE Suppliers. But, it is an investment that is essential for many businesses. Employers should use PPE as a last resort. They should first control the risks in the work environment in other ways before resorting to PPEs, but this cannot be done. The Personal Protective Equipment at work regulations states that PPE must be supplied by employers to the workers. The PPE must be properly assessed before use to make sure it is fit for its purpose. It must be maintained regularly and properly stored, it must come with a provided instructions on how to use them properly and safely and it must be used correctly by employees. Above all else, employers have a legal duty to provide PPE but there are also a lot of other reasons to do this.

PPE avoid and reduce injury and sickness. PPE reduces the effects of injury and can prevent accidents and injury from happening at all. By lowering these risks, sickness absence is reduced and the headache of paperwork and time involved in near miss and hurting reporting is avoided. It also avoids accidents, investigations and prosecutions which fulfills legal health and safety obligations. Healthy and safe workers are also happy and productive ones. Keeping your staff happy results in increased productivity, higher staff morale, lower staff turnover and reduced sickness absence. Companies that adopt best practice also attract new talent and create brand loyalty by sending a positive image to customers. By staying compliant in the issuance and usage of PPE, companies and factories avoid prosecutions (for the company and its Directors), fines and legal fees, compensation payouts and costs to the business of the associated bad press. The money invested in PPE is covered by savings gained from other benefits such as lower staff turnover, a reduction in sickness absence and avoiding costs relating to prosecutions.

New Regulations also mean a new emphasis on how to control the risks of noise at work. Hearing protection is important but is not the only thing you should be looking at. Undertake a risk assessment to establish what needs to be done, implement controls known to work, use hearing protection in its place and put supporting systems (such as health surveillance) in place. Hearing protectors can reduce noise risk but they are not a long-term solution. However, they can be used whilst other controls are being investigated and developed and they are acceptable where, despite all reasonably practicable controls, exposures remain above upper exposure action values. There are several problems surrounding the use of hearing protectors. They require 100% wear-time if users are to receive adequate protection, plus constant supervision, maintenance and training. There is the potential for skin or ear infections and they can result in workers being isolated and unable to hear danger signals.